'Desperate' time for starving wombats

The Wombat Awareness Organisation says hundreds of wombats are starving to death in South Australia's Murraylands.

The group has started food drops from Mannum to Morgan after finding many dead southern hairy-nosed wombats.

It says there is only four weeks worth of natural food for the animals, after a dry winter.

Founding director Bridgette Stevens says that is nowhere near enough to get the wombats through summer.

Ms Stevens says volunteers have started food drops but they are quickly running out of time and money.

"It's getting to a very, very desperate stage for us," she said.

"There is just not enough funding for these poor animals and unfortunately the food drops are the first things that are going to have to stop because we still have to look after the animals that are coming in and require the rehabilitation."

Ms Stevens says it is a distressing situation.

"It's actually so desperate now that we're just driving around and every time we're seeing a starving wombat we're just throwing them a ...[bit] of hay because they don't have the energy to walk far enough to get to the food drops any more," she said.

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